Korean Journal of Mycology (Kor. J. Mycol.)
In-Young Choi 1,2, Young-Joon Choi 3, Kui-Jae Lee 4, Ho-Jong Ju 1,2, Seong-Wan Cho 5, and Hyeon-Dong Shin 6,*
1Department of Agricultural Biology, Jeonbuk National University, Jeonju 54896, Korea
2Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology, Jeonbuk National University, Jeonju 54896, Korea
3Department of Biology, Kunsan National University, Gunsan 54150, Korea
4Division of Biotechnology, College of Environmental and Bioresource Sciences, Jeonbuk National
University, Iksan 54596, Korea
5Department of Pharmaceutics & Biotechnology, Konyang University, Daejeon 35365, Korea
6Division of Environmental Science and Ecological Engineering, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Korea
Correspondence to hdshin@korea.ac.kr
Korean Journal of Mycology (Kor J Mycol) September, 2020, 48(3):329-335.
https://doi.org/10.4489/KJM.20200032
Accepted: September 21, 2020; Revised: September 19, 2020; Received: August 25, 2020
Published: September, 2020.
© 2020 THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF MYCOLOGY.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
From 2008 to 2017, Korean azalea (Rhododendron yedoense f. poukhanense) showing angular, necrotic leaf spots were found in Jeju and Hongcheon, Korea. The lesions occurred frequently, detracting from the beauty of the glossy green leaves of the plant and causing premature defoliation. Therefore, to identify the fungus associated with the lesions, morphological characterization and molecular phylogenetic analysis of actin (Act), translation elongation factor 1-alpha (EF), internal transcribed spacer (ITS), 28S nrDNA (LSU), and RNA polymerase II encoding the second largest subunit (RPB2) of the two representative isolates were performed. The phylogenetic tree inferred from the neighbor-joining method showed the isolates clustering in the Sphaerulina azaleae group. Therefore, the fungus associated with the angular leaf spots on the Korean azalea was identified as Sphaerulina azaleae.
Angular leaf spot, Korean azalea, Rhododendron yedoense f. poukhanense, Sphaerulina azaleae